Lost, if you’re suggesting that the conversion of Ireland to Christianity was achieved by force, now would be a really good time to produce your evidence. My assertion is that, whatever else wemay say about it, St Patrick’s Day commemorates an episode not obviously connected to violence (which cannot be said of any of the alternatives commemorative days suggested in this thread) and I happen to think that that’s a positive point. I’m not aware that the historical record contains anything pointing to significant violence associated with the conversion of Ireland to Christianity, but I’m very happy to be corrected on the point, if I’m wrong.

You’re quite welcome to disagree with me on this, but I would take your disagreement a bit more seriously if you told me why you disagreed, or produced some evidence to support your disagreement. Or is it an article of faith for you that conversion to Christianity is always, everwhere and only achieved by force, so that it can be assumed, without the need for any actual evidence, that the conversion of Ireland was accompanied by violence?

If, on the other hand, you are merely suggesting that violent events occurred in Ireland during the time when it converted to Christianity, I’ll happily concede that this is very probably true, but I don’t see what you think that would prove.

lostexpectation wrote:it would prove that movers an shakers were positioning themselves and that Christianity was just a part of that. violence included.

I may be a bit thick, but I'm afraid I'm still not seeing your point. Are you suggesting that influential people in Gaelic society sought to cement their power by forcibly converting people to Christianity, and that this is why Ireland was Christianised?